Lekshmi Santhosh, MD, MA
Associate Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

lekshmi.santhosh@ucsf.edu 415-476-0735

Dr. Lekshmi Santhosh is an Associate Professor in Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine and Hospital Medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. She serves as the inaugural DOM Associate Chair for People Development and Mentorship. She received her M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed her Internal Medicine residency, Chief Residency, and Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at UCSF.

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During her fellowship training, she received a Master's in Education from UC Berkeley. Clinically, she attends in the Medical ICU, the Neuro-ICU, the Hospital Medicine teaching service, and in the outpatient Pulmonary clinic. She is also the founder and former medical director of the post-ICU/post-COVID OPTIMAL clinic. She serves as the UCSF Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency, focused on curriculum and scheduling. She has published extensively in the realm of medical education and issues around equity in medicine; her primary scholarly interests are related to ICU transitions of care, women in leadership, clinical reasoning, and subspecialty career choice. Nationally, she is one of the inaugural National Academy of Medicine Scholars in Diagnostic Excellence and is the Chair-Elect for the American Thoracic Society Section on Medical Education. She has recently been awarded the Gold-Headed Cane Endowed Education Chair in Internal Medicine.

Awards

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  • Mid-Career Educator Award, Association of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Program Directors, 2025
  • Gold-Headed Cane Endowed Education Chair in Internal Medicine, UCSF, 2024-2029
  • Chair-Elect, ATS Section on Medical Education, American Thoracic Society, 2024
  • UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award, UCSF, 2023
  • Floyd C. Rector Mentor Research Award, UCSF Internal Medicine Residency, 2023
  • ATS Scholar Top Reviewer Award, American Thoracic Society, 2021
  • NAM Scholar in Diagnostic Excellence, National Academy of Medicine, 2021
  • Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators Member, UCSF, 2021
  • Floyd C. Rector Housestaff Teaching Award, UCSF Internal Medicine Residency, 2021
  • UCSF Excellence in Teaching for Clinical Faculty Award, UCSF School of Medicine, 2021
  • Alison Clay Early Career Educator Award, American Thoracic Society, 2020
  • Emerging Educator Award, Association of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Program Directors, 2020
  • Outstanding Resident Teaching Award, UCSF Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2020
  • Bridges Curriculum - Foundations 1 and 2 Teaching Award - Outstanding Lecture, UCSF, 2019
  • CHEST/ACCP Early Career Professional Development Scholarship Award, CHEST/ACCP, 2018
  • UCSF School of Medicine Pathways to Discovery 2017-2018 Long-Term Mentor Award, UCSF, 2018
  • Research in Medical Education Award, Association of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Program Directors, 2017
  • Best Oral Research Presentation Award, Western Group on Educational Affairs (WGEA/AAMC), 2017
  • Best Clinical Fellow Award, Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine (2-time winner), UCSF, 2016-2017
  • Teaching Excellence Award for Cherished House Staff (T.E.A.C.H.) Winner, UCSF, 2016
  • UCSF Excellence and Innovation in Graduate Medical Education Award, UCSF, 2016

Education & Training

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  • MAEd Education University of California 2019
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training University of California 2018
  • Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship University of California 2018
  • Internal Medicine Chief Resident (UCSF-Parnassus Site) University of California 2015
  • Internal Medicine Residency University of California 2014
  • MD Medicine Harvard Medical School 2011
  • BA Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience Yale University 2007

Interests

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  • clinical reasoning
  • clinical teaching
  • transitions of care
  • subspecialty education
  • leadership development
  • medical education
  • women in medicine
  • critical care education
  • general pulmonary medicine
  • palliative care in critical care

Websites

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Grants and Projects

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  • Broadening the Scale and Impact of a Comprehensive Long COVID Clinic to Serve Diverse Patient Groups, AHRQ, 2024-2029
  • AI Mentor Match in UCSF Profiles, UCSF DOM, 2024-2025
  • Building Trustworthiness by Addressing Uncertainty in Medicine Grant Program, ABIM Foundation, Macy Foundation, Moore Foundation, 2023-2024
  • Scaling Up the ICU-PAUSE for Diagnostic Excellence & Equity: A Cross-Societies Collaboration of Intensivists and Hospitalists to Improve Patient Safety at Transitions of Care, Council for Medical Specialty Societies, 2022-2023
  • The ICU-PAUSE: A Novel Framework for Embedding Diagnostic Uncertainty at the ICU-to-Ward Transition of Care, National Academy of Medicine, 2021-2022
  • A Qualitative Analysis of Gender and Racial Disparities in Subspecialty Career Choice, UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, 2021-2022
  • The Multidisciplinary Post-COVID Post-ICU OPTIMAL Clinic, , 2021-2022
  • Improving ICU-to-Ward Patient Safety Through Design Thinking & Documentation Evaluation, APCCMPD, CHEST, and ATS, 2019-2021
  • Evaluation of the Expansion of ICU Responsibilities in an Open ICU System and Its Implications on Patient Care & Education, Nina Ireland Program in Lung Health, 2019-2021
  • Women In Leadership Development (WILD) Series: A Longitudinal GME-Wide Program for Women Trainee Leadership Development, UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, 2018-2019
  • IPASS-ICU: A Structured Communication Framework for ICU Transitions of Care, UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, 2017-2018

Publications (97)

Top publication keywords:
Faculty, MedicalCurriculumHospitalistsUncertaintyEducation, Medical, GraduateWomenPatient HandoffEducation, MedicalIntensive Care UnitsMedicineTeaching RoundsLeadershipCritical CareInternal MedicinePulmonary Medicine

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